![]() John Pasche's copyrighted initial design | |
![]() Craig Braun's final redesign and trademarked version | |
Product type | Logo |
---|---|
Owner | Musidor B.V. |
Produced by | John Pasche and Craig Braun of Sound Packaging Corporation |
Country | England |
Introduced | 1971 |
Markets | Music merchandise etc. |
Previous owners | John Pasche |
Registered as a trademark in |
|
Website | rollingstoneslogo.com |
The tongue and lips logo [4] or alternatively the lips and tongue logo, [5] also known as the Hot Lips logo, [4] [6] or the Rolling Stones Records logo, [7] or simply the Rolling Stones logo, [8] is a logo designed by the English art designer John Pasche for the rock band The Rolling Stones in 1970. It has been called the most famous logo in the history of popular music. The logo has remained on all post-1970 albums and singles by the Rolling Stones, in addition to the band's merchandise (from t-shirts to fire lighters) and their stage sets. [9]
The Rolling Stones needed a poster for their 1970 European Tour, but they were unhappy with the designs that were offered to them by their then record company Decca Records. The band began to look for a design student to design not only the poster, but also a logo or symbol which could be used on note paper, a programme cover and a cover for the press book. [9] [10] John Pasche was in his third and final year at the time on his Master of Arts degree at the Royal College of Art in London 1970 when Mick Jagger approached him, having seen his designs at the final degree show. [10] [11] Having accepted the commission, Pasche started working on the poster. Jagger accepted his second and final version. [10]
For the logo, Jagger had suggested the tongue of the Hindu goddess Kali. Pasche said at the time, "The design concept for the tongue was to represent the band's anti-authoritarian attitude, Mick's mouth, and the obvious sexual connotations. I designed it in such a way that it was easily reproduced and in a style I thought could stand the test of time." [5] In an interview with The New York Times , Pasche recalled that, “I didn’t want to do anything Indian, because I thought it would be very dated quickly, as everyone was going through that phase at the time”. [12] However, it did inspire him to his design. [13]
In New York, Craig Braun as the owner and creative director of the Sound Packaging Corporation, [12] had a deadline to complete the artwork for the band's Sticky Fingers album and he needed the logo from Pasche.
He (Pasche) had only completed some sketches, rough sketches of it. And Marshall Chess, the newly-named president of Rolling Stones Records, was in London said, All I have is a rubber stamp from the sketch, so I said for him to stamp it a few times, put it on a fax which, on a thermal fax machine, the quality is just shit, but I could see the silhouette of it, where the art student was going, very fuzzy, and about ¾ of an inch, so I blew that up to about 12″ and I had an illustrator working for me and I said, ‘I want you to re-draft this for me’. After many a back-and-forth, trial-and-error fleshing-out with the illustrator, the Rolling Stones’ tongue and lip logo as we now know it was being hatched. Pasche hadn’t finished his logo, so I told them to use his on the English album. Ultimately, it ended up being my version, not his, they use everywhere. They use mine for the tours, merchandising, licensing. Ironically, the V&A Museum paid Pasche almost £100,000 for his original logo art, but it’s not the official Stones version. – Craig Braun [14]
Illustrators at Craig Braun's Sound Packaging Corporation finished the logo by narrowing the tongue, adding more white around the lips and tongue, with black to highlight the throat, then blew it up to cover the entire inside sleeve of the American release of Sticky Fingers album. [12] Pasche’s version was used internationally. [12] The poster by Pasche for the 1970 European Tour was completed, although the first time that the logo was used was on 26 March 1971, when it appeared on VIP passes to the concert at the Marquee Club, which was at the end of their 1971 UK Tour. [15]
Pasche was paid just £50 in 1970 for the logo, [12] he was paid a further £200 in 1972. [16] In 1984 Pasche sold his copyright of the logo to the Rolling Stones' commercial arm, Musidor BV, for £26,000. [16] In 2008, London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) bought Pasche's original artwork of the Rolling Stones tongue and lips logo for £51,000 ($92,500). [16] The Art Fund paid half towards the artwork at Chicago online auction house, Mastro Auctions. Victoria Broakes, head of exhibitions at the V&A said, “The Rolling Stones’ Tongue is one of the first examples of a group using branding and it has become arguably the world’s most famous rock logo,” [17]
In 2012, the band commissioned Shepard Fairey to update the logo for their 50th anniversary. [18]
In my opinion, the Stones’ tongue logo is the most iconic, potent and enduring logo in rock & roll history. I think the logo not only captures Mick Jagger’s signature lips and tongue, but also the essence of rebellion and sexuality that is the allure of all rock & roll at its finest. When Mick Jagger reached out to me about designing a logo to mark the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary I was quite overwhelmed. Mick said he was open to any of my ideas. One of the first things I asked Mick was, “Don’t you think the tongue HAS to be included?” He responded, “Yeah, I guess it ought to be.” I worked on this project as a fan knowing that the Stones’ tongue was the focus and the starting point. – Shepard Fairey [19]
After the death of Charlie Watts in 2021, the logo was changed to black for the No Filter Tour in his memory. [20] [21]
While The New York Times [9] and others have previously stated that John Pasche created the tongue and lips logo, older sources have indicated otherwise. New York Daily News, Florida Today , CNN, [22] and The Hill [23] state it was Ruby Mazur who created the logo, [24] [25] while the Ottawa Citizen has listed both Mazur and Andy Warhol as probable creators. [26]
In a poll carried out by via OnePoll for Day2 of 2,000 UK adults, the tongue and lip logo came top in the 50 Most Iconic T-Shirt Designs of All Time, ahead of the image of Che Guevara, the Hard Rock Cafe logo and I ❤ NY. [27]
Sean Egan in his book The Mammoth Book of the Rolling Stones said of the logo, "Regardless of its provenance, the logo is superb. Without using the Stones' name, it instantly conjures them, or at least Jagger, as well as a certain lasciviousness that is the Stones' own... It quickly and deservedly became the most famous logo in the history of popular music." [28]
Tailor Brands named the logo the Best Band Logo in History and the "most iconic band logo in all of rock history". [6]
In 2020, Joobin Bekhrad of The New York Times wrote "It began life as a tiny emblem, something to adorn a 45 r.p.m. single or the band’s letterhead. It quickly became ubiquitous and, ultimately, the most famous logo in rock ’n’ roll. Over 50 years, the legendary “tongue and lips” of the Rolling Stones has been emblazoned on everything." [29]
Creative Review compiled a list of the top commercial logos of all time, with the tongue and lips logo coming in 15th position. [30]
The Sticky Fingers album was the first to feature the logo on the record label for Rolling Stones Records and on the inside cover. The logo was part of a package that, in 2003, VH1 named the "No. 1 Greatest Album Cover" of all time. [31]
The use of the logo has gone far beyond its original use on an album cover, record label and a tour poster, it has become the band's logo. It is now used widely on most of the Rolling Stones' merchandise, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, coasters, luggage tags, whisky flasks, belts, baseball caps, credit cards etc. The logo has even been used on the band's aircraft for their concerts tours. The logo has been used on all post-1970 Rolling Stones releases, both on Rolling Stones Records since 1970 and when the band signed to Virgin Records. In 2017, Remi Matsuo designed a variation of the logo for merchandise sold as part of a collaboration between the Rolling Stones and her band Glim Spanky. [32] [33] In 2022, the logo was created in Lego for the Lego Art theme, as part of the band's 60th anniversary.
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active across seven decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader of the band. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership became the band's primary songwriting and creative force; this alienated Jones, who developed a drug addiction that by 1968 interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.
Sir Michael Philip Jagger is an English singer, songwriter, actor, filmmaker, and dancer. He is the front man and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. Jagger has written most of the band's songs alongside lead guitarist Keith Richards; their songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in history, and they continue to collaborate musically. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential front men in the history of rock music. His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards' guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones' trademark throughout the band's career. Jagger gained notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and has often been portrayed as a countercultural figure.
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone magazine, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the baroque pop and psychedelia heard on their preceding albums Aftermath (1966), Between the Buttons (1967) and especially Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967). One of the group's most popular and recognisable songs, it has been featured in films and covered by numerous performers, notably Thelma Houston, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Peter Frampton, Johnny Winter, Leon Russell and Alex Chilton. To date, it is the band's most-performed song; they have played it over 1,100 times in concert.
Sticky Fingers is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 23 April 1971 on the Rolling Stones' new label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones had been contracted by Decca Records and London Records in the UK and the US since 1963. On this album, Mick Taylor made his second full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album. It was the first studio album without Brian Jones, who died two years earlier. The original cover artwork, conceived by Andy Warhol and photographed and designed by members of his art collective, the Factory, showed a picture of a man in tight jeans, and had a working zip that opened to reveal underwear fabric. The cover was expensive to produce and damaged the vinyl record, so the size of the zipper adjustment was made by John Kosh at ABKCO records. Later re-issues featured just the outer photograph of the jeans.
It's Only Rock 'n Roll is the 12th studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 18 October 1974 by Rolling Stones Records. It was the last album to feature guitarist Mick Taylor; the songwriting and recording of the album's title track had a connection to Taylor's eventual replacement, Ronnie Wood. It's Only Rock 'n Roll combines the core blues and rock 'n' roll–oriented sound with elements of funk and reggae. It's Only Rock 'n Roll reached number one in the United States and number two in the UK.
"Brown Sugar" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written primarily by Mick Jagger, it is the opening track and lead single from their album Sticky Fingers (1971). It became a number one hit in both the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it charted at number two. In the United States, Billboard ranked it as the number 16 song for 1971.
Rolling Stones Records was the record label formed by the Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman in 1970, after their recording contract with Decca Records expired. The label was initially headed by Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. It was first distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records subsidiary Atco Records. On April 1, 1971, the band signed a distribution deal for five albums with Ahmet Ertegun, acting on behalf of Atlantic Records. In the US, the albums were distributed by Atlantic until 1984. In the UK, Rolling Stones Records were distributed by WEA from 1971 to 1977 and by EMI from 1978 to 1984. In 1986, Columbia Records started distributing it in the United States and CBS for the rest of the world until 1991. It was discontinued in 1992 when the band signed to Virgin Records, but the tongue and lips logo remains on all post-1970 Rolling Stones releases.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was a concert film hosted by and featuring the Rolling Stones, filmed on 11–12 December 1968. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who proposed the idea of a "rock and roll circus" to Jagger. The show was filmed on a makeshift circus stage with Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Rolling Stones. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a one-shot supergroup called The Dirty Mac, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and the Stones' Keith Richards on bass. The recently formed Led Zeppelin had been considered for inclusion, but the idea was rejected.
The Licks Tour was a worldwide concert tour undertaken by the Rolling Stones during 2002 and 2003, in support of their 40th anniversary compilation album Forty Licks. The tour grossed over $300 million, becoming the second highest-grossing tour at that time, behind their own Voodoo Lounge Tour of 1994–1995.
A Bigger Bang was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang. At the time, it was the highest grossing tour of all time, earning $558,255,524, before being surpassed by U2's 2009–11 U2 360 Tour, and eventually Taylor Swift's 2023–24 Eras Tour. The tour was chronicled on the video release The Biggest Bang, compiling full performances, several recordings from shows and documentaries. Notable concerts on the tour included a two-night stand in the autumn of 2006 at the Beacon Theatre filmed by Martin Scorsese for Shine a Light, and their half-time performance at Super Bowl XL.
"Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Jagger-Richards, it is the opening track of the band's 1969 album Let It Bleed. The song covers the brutal realities of war, including murder, rape and fear. It features prominent guest vocals by American singer Merry Clayton.
"Moonlight Mile" is a song recorded by the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it appears as the closing track on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. The song features multiple musicians playing alternate instruments due to the frequent absence of Richards during recording sessions of the period.
The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels Tour was a concert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's album Steel Wheels; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at the Tokyo Dome. The European leg of the tour, which featured a different stage and logo, was called the Urban Jungle Tour; it ran from May to August 1990. These would be the last live concerts for the band with original member Bill Wyman on bass guitar. This tour would also be the longest the band had ever done up to that point, playing over twice as many shows as their standard tour length from the 1960s and 1970s.
John Pasche is a British graphic designer and art director. A Brighton College of Art graduate with an MA from the Royal College of Art, Pasche is best known for being the designer of the tongue and lips logo for The Rolling Stones. Aside from their logo, he has also worked with The Rolling Stones on some of their tour posters and other promotional material throughout the early to mid 1970s.
The Rolling Stones' 1971 UK Tour was a brief concert tour of England and Scotland that took place over three weeks in March 1971.
GRRR! is a greatest hits album by the Rolling Stones. Released on 12 November 2012, it commemorates the band's 50th anniversary. The album features two new songs titled "Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot", which were recorded in August 2012.
Glen Carroll is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and lead vocalist. Carroll wrote and recorded Like A Rolling Stone, the "Top 10 Album" in 2013.
Ruby Mazur is an American artist who has created the cover art of over 3,000 albums for artists including The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughn, Elton John and Ray Charles. He is a former art director for Famous Music (1970), ABC-Dunhill (1972), and Paramount Records.
The Stones Fan Museum is a museum in Lüchow in Lower Saxony, Germany, that was founded in 2011. It is dedicated to the British rock band The Rolling Stones. The museum is a member of the Museumsverbund Lüchow-Dannenberg.
Craig Braun is an American actor and former graphic designer. Famous for his album covers with Andy Warhol and Tom Wilkes, he and Wilkes won a Grammy in 1974 for Tommy, an award Braun had been nominated for twice previously. His first nomination was with Warhol for the Sticky Fingers design that included Braun's contributions to the Rolling Stones' tongue and lips logo. He also designed the logo for the Carpenters. Braun is said to have transformed the medium of album covers from two-dimensional works to creative, interactive experiences during the golden age of vinyl.